The Rookie Boss Teases ‘Joyful’ Episode 100 That ‘Celebrates Our Characters’
ABC’s The Rookie is heading for a wedding — or at least, it sure seems to be. But “The Curse of the Last Shift” that precedes Officer Nolan’s big day with bride-to-be Bailey will prove not to be trifled with.
“[Nolan, played by Nathan Fillion] doesn’t believe in it, of course,” showrunner Alex Hawley previewed for TVLine ahead of The Rookie‘s panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Saturday, whereas “Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) can’t stop bringing it up, because she’s superstitious — and then it all goes wrong.
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“I had a lot of fun with that. That’s the joy of the ‘inside baseball’ stuff that’s real,” Hawley adds with a smile. “We have a writer on our staff who was a police officer for 18 years, and whenever he brings that kind of thing up, we’re like, ‘That’s great,’ just to put Nathan through that.”
The Rookie Season 6 premieres Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 9/8c, where it will now lead out of the sophomore drama Will Trent. With the second episode of the season marking the light procedural’s 100th overall, what will Hawley gift fans with on such an occasion?
The answer can be found in the first sentence of this preview.
Nolan and Bailey’s (Jenna Dewan) wedding day, says Hawley, “is the anchor of that episode,” which is heavy on what-else-could-go-wrong?! comedy but also squeezes in romance (for multiple couples, and in one instance involving a lie detector) and more.
“It was really important to us to do an episode that felt joyful and celebrated our characters,” Hawley explains. “We’ve done weddings before on the show — some which have gone horribly wrong — so I thought it was important to tell what was a really fun story, for the most part.”
For the most part, yes. Until, that is, a crisis involving one of Mid-Wilshire Division’s finest turns the light tone on its head, allowing The Rookie to flex its dramatic muscle during the milestone hour. Speaking to that dramatic detour, Hawley says, “I really wanted it to be everything we do, tonally.”
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